Well we did it
again! Brandon
“The Truth” Vera making his second UFC debut scores
a first round knock out.

Instead
of doing our normal write up, we’ll just let the
photo’s do the talking.

Team
Lloyd Irvin still continues to prove to the World that we have some of
the best training methods available. We aren’t a
professional fight team, we are a martial arts school that takes
regular people and makes them Champions. We’ve
proved this in Thai Boxing, Sombo, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Mixed
Martial Arts.

If
you’re serious about training at a school that can really
prepare you to become your absolute best, you owe it to yourself to
take advantage of our FREE 30 Trial
.

You
can see detailed information about the events leading up to the big UFC
fight by visiting our BLOG by clicking the link below

For the first tournament of 2006, Team Lloyd Irvin sent Seph Smith,
Phil Weslow, and Ryan Hall down to the Budweiser Jiu-Jitsu World Cup in
Concord, NC. It was a two day event that featured a number of
top
competitors from teams such as Balance, Alliance, Lloyd Irvin, and
Velocity. Day one was the gi competition, and Sunday would
feature the always popular no-gi action,
including four professional
divisions (light, middle, heavy, and women’s)..

Grapplemania 2005 was held on 12/18/05 in Wake Forest, NC, and as one
of the last competitions of the year, it attracted a number of top
competitors from the southeast. It was an action-packed day
of
great matches.

Muhsin Corbbrey of Hilton Head, SC defeated Mike Smiley of Pittsburgh,
PA by TKO in round one. Muhsin used sweeping low kick to knock Smiley
off of his feet and finished him with a hard knee to the face at the
end of round one.

In the Lightweight finals, Muhsin Corbbrey and Raphael Assuncao put on
an awesome display of technique and power as the two fought hard from
beginning to end. In round one Corbbrey attacked with hard low kicks
and body punches,

Assuncao answered back with strong kicks and knees and a powerful
takedown. In round two Corbbrey pressed the action more and
showed his impressive boxing style landing hard left hooks and right
hands. In round 3 Assuncao got the takedown after taking some
punishment standing. Corbbrey attacked from the bottom looking for
submissions. Corbbrey's early aggression earned him his first
Team USA Lightweight Championship.

September
16, 2005:

Dave
Kaplan Won His WKA US MMA Title

This weekend Team Lloyd Irvin’s Dave Kaplan crushed his
competition in an MMA match that also had Sean Sherk and Din Thomas
fighting on the same card.

This weekend Team Lloyd Irvin’s Derek Herrera competed at
NAGA's
Battle at the Beach. On saturday, in the Men's No-Gi Advanced
Cruiserweight Division, he won his first match submitting his opponent
by triangle choke. He then fought Dan Simmler, a tough purple
belt from Matt Serra Jiujitsu, and after battling for 4 minutes Simmler
managed to take Derek's back and finish with a rear naked
choke.
Derek then fought for third and won a quick match again by triangle
choke.

Sunday Derek fought in the Men's Blue Belt cruiserweight division and
submitted all three of his opponents on his way to winning the
division. He won his first match by triangle choke/armbar,
his
second match by baseball choke, and his final match by rear naked
choke.

Amie Turton brings home TWO GOLDS in the Women’s No
Gi
Advance Lightweight and the Women’s Gi Blue Belt and Above
135
divisions only having 1 point scored on her in four matches.

Congratulations to everyone that put on the line win lose or
draw. If your results aren’t posted on the news
site we
never received your information.

July
31, 2005:

Team
Lloyd Irvin Represents At The George Pendergrass Classic

Darren Johnson, one of our competitors, drove down to North
Carolina in order to compete in the George Pendergrass Classic.

He competed in two divisions, winning the Gold in the
Blue
Belt Masters. He beat a Gustavo Machado Blue Belt by
Americana
(paintbrush) in the finals.

Darren trained for this tournament when he wasn't at the
academy.
He rode the bike, did the StairMaster, ran
the
treadmill, and basically took his cardio very seriously.
As
a result he represented in good fashion and brought back the gold.
During the stand up, he won the gripping battle,
and didn't
try anything fancy, he just stuck to his game plan.
He took
him down with a technique that Dave showed him in class just this last
Thursday. He drilled it and drilled it and it worked like a
charm
in the match.

We are all proud of Darren, who now says, " I'm planning to go to
Grapplers Quest in September!!"

Congratulations to everyone that put on the line win lose or
draw. If your results aren’t posted on the news
site we
never received your information.

July
25, 2005:

Mike
Fowler Gets The BRONZE in BRAZIL!!!!!!! Submits Three
Opponents

This past Saturday Mike Fowler did what only three other Team Lloyd
Irvin members have done. He placed in a Major tournament in
Brazil. Fowler has joined the ranks of Lloyd Irvin, and Rhadi
Ferguson. At the 2005 Brazilian World Cup
Mike
Fowler stood on the Brown Belt Podium as a proud member of an elite
few. Here are the details of the event courtesy of NHBFIGHTS.

Making her Team Lloyd Irvin debut Amie Turton had no one show up for
women's advanced lightweight so she bumped up and wrestled women's
advanced heavyweight. She submitted both her opponents there
-
one with her patented arm a triangle from guard. In the gi,
Amie
represented in true Lloyd Irvin form winning her one match by the score
of 12 * 0 Amie ended the match with a choke.

To the surprise of everyone at Team Lloyd Irvin Mike Atkin decided to
compete even though he has an injury to his arm that has kept him off
the mats all week. Mike won the Executive No-gi 4x0, takedown
and
guard pass.

To round things out Julius Park made his long awaited debut back on the
mats. You could tell by the way Julius was going to war with
Mike
Fowler on the mats in last weeks Black Belt Club class that it was time
for Julius to get back on the circuit. Julius won the
advanced
lightweight no-gi by tapping his first opponent with a knee bar from
1/2-guard, tapping his second opponent with a rolling toe-hold from on
top. Julius then decided to enter the Purple Belt LW (under
175),
in the first round he tapped his opponent with an arm bar from mount,
in his second match he faced the very tough Cacau who is one of
Jamelao's students winning 2 * 0 and in the finals Julius tapped Mat
Santos in about 8 seconds with an arm bar.

Way to go Team Lloyd Irvin.

July
11, 2005:

Mike
Easton Wins By TKO!!!
Remains The CSC Lightweight Champion

Mike Easton put on a spectacular show for all of his local hometown
fans this past weekend in Virginia. From the moment
Mike’s
opponent was announced you could tell by the way he walked to the ring
that he was very confident and ready to go to battle.

In an amazing night of action packed fights Ed Clay’s
Nashville MMA/Team Lloyd Irvin won all five matches in a combined time
5:14 seconds. Shooto comissioner Johny Walls called the teams
performance “Awesome. The fans want to see knock outs and
submissions and Ed’s guys deliver. All of Ed Clay’s
guys were incredibaly well prepared and it showed.

The
mats
at Team Lloyd Irvin have been on fire as everyone was preparing for the
upcoming Grapplers Quest event. But Mike Fowler was on a particular
mission after finding out that his first round opponent was going to be
the Head Instructor at The Yamasaki Academy which is a local school in
Maryland. Fowler would be facing Yamasaki instructor and BJJ Black Belt
Francisco Neto. When Fowler was asked why he was so pumped up for this
match he said.

"It's
a long story but in a nutshell. I fought my friend David Jacobs from
the Yamasaki Academy twice, submitting him the first time with a
triangle and the second time in the first round of a tournament he beat
me on points. In our second match after David beat me the entire
Yamasaki team went crazy, I'll never forget looking up seeing how happy
Fernando Yamasaki was jumping up and down. Then when I got to watch the
video of the match to see my mistakes it got worse. Right after the
match during all of the excitement I could see Fernando get on his cell
phone and make a call, I guess to tell someone that David beat me. You
just had to see it to understand what I'm talking about. I didn't like
that feeling and I didn't want it to happen again. Master Lloyd made me
a video tape of the end of the match, how they were celebrating and the
phone call being made. It was real funny but good because he put triple
takes in it, slow motion and added music to make it more dramatic. I
watched this video every day to get me motivated for my daily training.
I wanted to do everything possible to make sure I didn't have to go
through that again. I want to thank everyone at Team Lloyd Irvin for
making the room hot during training and to thank Master Lloyd for being my main training partners in preparation for
this match, it paid off."

Mike
Fowler ( Team Lloyd Irvin) vs. Fransico Neto (Yamasaki)

The
match started off with both guys looking for a takedown. Neto's base
was incredible avoiding everything that Fowler attempted. Fowler then
goes for a move and in a blink of an eye Neto does a lighting fast O
Uchi Gari. During the match Neto counters Fowlers takedown attempt and
scores 2 points with a take down. From this point on Neto shows
excellent posture that he is known for. He stands up in base trying to
open Fowlers guard but Fowlers guard is to tight. Fowler finally opens
his guard, dropping back to his feet. Later in the match Fowler is
instructed to start pushing the pace and not let Neto sit on his 2
point lead. Fowler is working for his triangle but Neto is on to it
standing up each and every time Fowler starts to get close. Then Fowler
crosses over from half guard to start to work underneath for the legs.
Scramble after scramble happens, Neto is countering everything that
Fowler throws at him like an experienced veteran. But then one time
Neto stuffed Fowler leg attempt, Fowler immediately re-rolled catching
Neto off balance, Fowler blocked the stop block and secured the
submission forcing Neto to TAP Fowler to release.

Fowler
Submitting Neto!!

Mike
Fowler jumps up to celebrate, runs over to give Master Lloyd a hug
while Neto is still on the ground in disbelief. It was like the look
that Royler Gracie had when Eddie Bravo tapped him. Mike Fowler
wouldn't have to worry about the Yamasaki team celebrating on his
behalf this day.

Fowler
Victorious!!

Mike
Fowler (Team Lloyd Irvin) vs. Regis Lebre ( Saulo Riberio)

This
match pitted Mike Fowler against another BJJ Black Belt. This was one
of the most exciting matches of the day. Fowler was going for takedown,
after takedown. At one point Mike took Regis down during a scramble
only getting him an advantage. Fowler was working to pass the guard
with the knee cut across technique. He started to use a new variation
being developed in the academy. Fowler passed multiple times using this
technique but he wasn't able to hold Regis long enough to get awarded
the points. At one point Regis got a takedown during a scramble for the
2 points. Fowler started to work for a half guard sweep and caught
Regis in a knee bar also but he didn't have it tight enough and Regis
escaped. The last 90 seconds of the match saw F owler chasing Regis
trying to get a takedown while Regis just concentrated on not getting
taken down. The time ran out with Regis winning 2 * 0.

After
the event Master Lloyd had this to say.

"Everyone
fought well and gave it their all. That's all that I can ask
for. Mike fought really well and never stopped trying to get Regis
down. I'm really happy for Mike with his win over Neto, he trained hard
for it and I know how much it bothered him last time with what happened
after he lost. Neto is really good and I have nothing but the utmost
respect for him. Besides the Black Belts on our team, Neto is the only
BJJ Black Belt from our area putting it on the line at these types of
events in front of his students. You can't do anything but respect
that. Like I always tell my guys, win , lose or draw, everything is a
learning experience.

Leo
Dalla was the Team Lloyd Irvin representative at the 190 pound
division. In his first round Dalla completely dominated winning by a
HUGE margin of points.

In his
second match he faced the always tough Rick McCauley. The match went
back and forth. Rick had some good leg lock and sweep attempts with
Dalla getting close to some sweeps of his own. At one point Rick went
for a nice sweep that made Dalla use all of his athletic ability by
going into a perfect handstand and walking out of the sweep. With about
40 seconds remaining Dalla slapped on a Oma Plata and then switched to
a toe hold as time ran our. Rick won 3 advantages to 2 advantages.

Jared
Weiner was our Light weight representative. He won his first match by
points. During this match Jared did a very nice back take move where he
jumped onto the back, during this match Jared injured his back/hip
again. Like the warrior he is Jared continued to fight losing his
second round match.

We are
still waiting for more results to come in.

Photo's
to come.

March
26, 2005:

Team
Lloyd Irvin Training Was A Smashing Hit

With 10 BJJ Black Belts on the floor at Lloyd Irvin’s Martial
Arts Team Training, how could it not be the best one yet. Yes you read
that correctly. We had 10 BJJ Black Belts on the floor in our academy
at one time. This moment was priceless as students got to learn from
and training with everyone. If you missed this team training I hope you
had a good reason because this one is going to be hard to beat but for
some reason I think we’ll do it.

The
Mat Remained Full

You can see Team Lloyd Irvin students practicing what they just learned.

Master
Lloyd and a Total of 10 BJJ Black Belts

Master Lloyd addresses the team, talks about our goals for the New
Year, tells everyone what he expects from them and gave everyone a
motivating word. This was followed by every black belt giving their
words of wisdom.

Everyone left pumped up and ready to go train even harder.

Best wishes to all of the Team Lloyd Irvin competitors heading to the
Pan Ams this weekend.

March
26, 2005:

Incredible
Amount of Promotions After Successful Team Training

This list was so impressive that I am going to have to separate them by
belt and if you are a part of the team then you know just how hard this
crew worked in order to attain this level. Let's also take this
opportunity to congratulate Brandon Vera on winning not 1 but 2 MMA
fights back to back the same night.

On February 19th and 20th 8 of the nine competitors that competed for
team Lloyd Irvin/ Nashville MMA finished in the top three in their
divisions. The only competitor that did not place had to bow out in the
semifinals after 2 wins due to an ankle injury.

Shawn
Sprawling Hard

The day started out with the purple belt division. Shawn Hammonds won
three matches to win his 187 pound division. In the finals he defeated
his opponent, one of Travis Lutter’s standout purple belts by
a score of 5-0. After winning this division Shawn said “I
used Lloyd Irvin’s three points of pressure to submit that
first opponent. I stayed in side control for a while and the opponent
said he could not take it. He didn’t know what I was
doing!”

Third
Point Pressure Crushes Opponent

In the absolute division tournament directors matched the purple and
brown belt competitors together. Shawn Hammonds received a bye to the
semi finals. In the semi finals Shawn had a tough match. Early in the
match the opponent scored a takedown. Shawn quickly got to work
attacking from his guard and scored a sweep. His opponent continued to
attack and Shawn seized a brief mistake and got the guard pass. The
match ended shortly after with Shawn winning 5-2.

In the finals Shawn fought a tough purple belt who the fight before
defeated a tough brown belt. Shawn took his opponent down with a nice
single leg and started to work in his opponents guard. Shawn scored two
guard passes and a knee on belly to win in the finals by impressive
fashion 10-0. After the fight Shawn said “I trained very hard
for this tournament and the competition was very tough. I was
controlling these opponents with the brabo grip that Master Lloyd
showed me. That’s how I got that last knee on belly. This was
great preparation for next weeks Grapplers Quest!”

Shawn's
Controlling Knee on Belly

In an amazing feat Lloyd Irvin/Nashville MMA white belt stand out B.J.
Fletcher won 5 divisions and went 14-0 for the weekend. He won the
white belt 205 and absolute and also won the intermediate 205,
intermediate heavy (which he won three matches in) and the intermediate
absolute division. Fletcher was very excited with his victories and
said”Our training was 3x’s as hard as the
competition. It showed. I felt like we knew so much more than the
competition. This gave me the confidents through 14 matches. I know Ed
uses team Lloyd Irvin training methods and it showed why we are a part
of the best team in the country! I love the comraderie with the team.
We have something special going here!”

Mike Hiller made a statement this weekend winning the white belt 187
division taking 2nd in the white belt absolute, winning his beginner
187 pound division and also winning the beginner absolute. Mikes coach
Ed Clay said after his matches “I am very proud of Mike. He
works hard every class and stays very focused. He takes more notes than
anyone in the school. He was undefeated this weekend and bowed out to
his teammate B.J. Fletcher in the finals. He has come a long way and
has improved more that anyone in the school over the last 5
months!”

New Nashville MMA and Gameness Sales and Marketing director Dave Reilly
competed in four divisions going 8-0. Dave dominated all of his matches
including getting 3 submissions and winning two other matches by the 12
point skunk rule. He bowed out to his teammates in 2 finals matches.
Dave said of his experience “It is great to be a part of this
team. We all trained very hard and smart for this and I am very happy
with the out come. Our team did incredible and I’ proud to be
a part of it.”
Thai boxing stand out Mardae Weaver won his beginner division after
only training bjj for six weeks. He then went on to win two matches in
the beginner absolute making it all the way to the finals where he
bowed out to his teammate. Mardae is a great athlete and former college
football stand out. Sticking to his game plan and conditioning was the
key’s he says” I was in great shape going into this
tournament. I knew I didn’t know a lot but Ed gave me a
strategy for my matches and I executed it well. I had to stick to the
game plan perfectly to win and I did. It was a good experience. I need
to compete as much as possible to start preparing for my fight
career.”

Purple belt Ray Casias did very well in his no gi matches on Saturday.
Ray won the advance 205 and advances heavyweight no gi division. Ray
had to shake off a tough day in the Saturday purple belt division to
complete this feat. Ray says “Saturday was a tough day for me
but I had to get over that and get my mind straight on Sunday. I wanted
to come back strong and am happy overall with the experience. I am very
proud of the team”!

Some
Medals

Other notables were Danial Smith, Chad Washburn and Kent Rollins.
Danial and Chad both fought tough matches and finished 2nd in their
respective divisions and Kent won 2 tough matches but popped his ankle
in his second match and could not compete in the semi finals.

Showing
Off the Medals

Overall Nashville MMA/Team Lloyd Irvin won 23 medals with nine
competitors. This was a great start to the 2005 tournament circuit!

With blue belts Team LI in Richmond’s own Seph Smith takes
2nd after three great fights! Also in this division out of
Fredericksburg was Ryan Hall Who lost a tough first match, and also
Mason Welch who won his first, but stepped to the side to let teammate
Seph go on to try and take the division. Great Job guys!

Our very own Darren gave a great performance to secure 2nd place in the
blue belt heavyweight! After submitting his first opponent with his
bread and butter move, a choke from the top, He gave a great judo
demonstration as he sends his opponent soaring to the mat!! The
opponent was also very skilled and was able to secure a choke, Darren
had never seen. Darren was forced to tap, but nothing stops him and he
can’t wait for the next tournament!!!!
Also in blue, a heartbreaking match for Nicole Lichenstein. She fought
an awesome match that was forced into overtime but the other girl was
able to walk away with the win. Way to go Nicole!!

In Purple Belt, Mike Easton defies the pressures of his brand new
purple to win his fight against a tough Yamasaki student, Klint. Mike
Easton was just recently promoted to purple, but you could have never
known he was brand new! Mike Easton’s exciting style once
again drew crowds with onlookers from all across the gym. The match was
back and forth, sweep attempts, guard pass attempts, everything you can
imagine. Late in the match Mike Easton used his phenomenal takedown
skills to secure two pints. The match was still up for grabs as Mike is
almost swept at the buzzer for 6 points!!!! Mike’s face never
changed, he knew he won and defended like he planned it!

Mike
Easton Going On To Win His First Purple Belt Competition Agaist The
Always Tough Yamasaki Player Klint

Also in purple belt, James Valentine had a great first match that was
close by points, but James pulled the win out like a magician pulling a
rabbit out of a hat. His next fight, James pulled, but the opponent was
well versed in foot locks, and was able to catch James, which is not
easy! Congrats to James!

Last, but not least, Brand new brown belt Mike Fowler not only wins his
division, but also takes home the Most Technical Competitor trophy!!!!
As his first match as a brown belt, Mike was nervous, but he was
confident in the training Master Lloyd had given him. His first match
was off to a rough start, but after securing the guard pass, he went to
the Lloyd Irvin patented Brabo choke. The opponent having no option,
but to tap! His next fight was against a Brazilian from Flavio Behring
in Sao Paulo, Brazil. After spending a few minutes exchanging takedown
attempts, Mike pulls to his infamous half guard. Mike comes back to his
feet and nails a takedown, and then goes right for the pass. The
opponent was extremely tough to tap, with Mike having his arm bent all
around backwards. Baffled, Mike goes to work for chokes, and other
submissions, but time had run out. Mike was the Brown belt Champion!!!!

Fowler
On the Attack

Fowler
Wins His First Match As A Brown Belt

Way to go Team Lloyd Irvin!!!!

JUST IN: THE SUNDAY NO GI REPORT FROM LLOYD BALDWIN

On Sunday in the No Gi advanced Seph omoplata swept then heel hooked
brown belt JoJo Guarin in one of the best fights of the day. Lloyd B.
got second in the intermediate lghtwt. div. The tournament didnt have
the biggest turnout but trust me when I say the competition was stiff.

Lloyd
Baldwin Triangles an Opponent

Ryan Hall submitted his first two no-gi opponent's with his signature
triangle. He had a hard battle in the finals and ended up taking 2nd
place in the Intermediate WelterWeight no-gi division. He also fought
in the Advanced division, but got
heel hooked, by the well known competitor Andrew Smith, about 2 minutes
into the match.

January
13, 2005:

"Master
Paul Gets The Long Awaited Brown Belt"

Master
Paul Promoted to Brown

Master Paul has been a part of Team Lloyd Irvin when we were Ultimate
Self Defense Concepts and we competed under the name Soldiers of
Submission. Way to go!

December
21, 2004:

"Mike
"The Hulk" Easton Gets The Purple Belt "

Mike
Easton Promoted to Purple

Just two years into jiu-jitsu Mike Easton moves in the the purple belt
ranks. Most people didn't even know Mike could fight with the gi
because he's been tearing up the NHB scence. Mike wanted to push for
the purple belt so he put the gi back on and started going to
tournaments to show his stuff. Many people have said the Mike reminds
them of Leo Veira when he competes because of his acrobatic style. At
only 145 pounds Mike has won every blue belt competition that he has
entered and at the VA Federation tournament he won his weight class and
the open division beating a 250 pound giant.

You may not have heard the name Doug Esposito that much on the
tournament scene in the lately but Doug is our silent assasin. Because
of a heavy work load and other commitments Doug doesn't get to the
tournaments that often. But when he does he always got the GOLD as a
blue belt. he's been kicking but in the Academy for some time now and
tonight Master LLoyd presented Doug with the much deserved Purple Belt.

Master Lloyd had this to say after class. "It's an honor to be able to
promote Doug to the purple belt, he really deserves it. I expect him to
make an immediate impact at the purple belt level."

Mike
Fowler Promoted to Brown

On the other side of the spectrum you have Mike Fowler. Just about at
the three year mark Mike Fowler has made a HUGE name for himself on the
competition scene. Mike has competed against the very best purple belts
in the country and his record speaks for itself. Tonight Mike joined
the ranks not seen by many, Master Lloyd awards Mike Fowler with the
Brown Belt. Master Lloyd had this to say:

"Mike has worked very hard to reach this level, I expect that he must
work just as hard to earn the same respect that he has had as a blue
and purple belt. Nothing changes, you got to get out there and compete,
win, lose or draw, go out there and get your experience."

December
11, 2004:

"MIKE
FOWLER WINS THE PURPLE BELT LIGHT WEIGHT 175 AND UNDER AND THE HEAVY
WEIGHT 175 AND OVER TOURNAMENT IN THE SAME DAY "

What can you say? Mike Fowler has been tearing up the scene as a purple
belt. He’s been flying around the country to compete against
the best purple belts America has to offer. Many of the Purple belts
he’s already submitted have since moved on to the brown belt
ranks. His journey continues. Mike heard the phenom Bill Cooper was
going to be at the Florida Grapplers Quest so as usual he contacted his
sponsors and was on his way.

Mike entered the 175 and under purple belt division and also put his
name into the 175 and over division since it would be following the
lightweight tournament.

As luck would have it Mike would get his wish and face Bill Cooper in
the very first match. This is a match that people all over the Internet
have wanted to see for a long time. Bill “The
Grill” Cooper has been on an unstoppable mission as a purple
belt, taking the silver medal at this years pan ams losing only by an
advantage in the finals and winning basically everything he enters.
Fellow team mate and grappling stud in his own right Jeff Glover had
this to say about his team mate Bill “The Grill”
“ Bill kicks my butt in class every day. “ Anyone
that can kick Jeff Glovers butt everyday is a BAD MAN.

Bill has been beating men left and right for some time now. You may ask
yourself so what. Well it may not seem like allot until you realize
Bill is only 17 years old. Yes, at these same events that he beats men
like they are boys he also competes in the kids teenage divisions also.
But once on the mat with Bill age is only a number.

This was a great match that pitted two well-known guard players, Bill
on one side has what many call an un-passable guard and Fowler is a
terror with the triangle from the guard.

So now to the match.
Mike Fowler vs. Bill “The Grill” Cooper

The match begins with Bill pulling Fowler into his dangerous guard. Now
was the time that Fowler could show the World his “Very
Heavy” top game. Bill was working his magic from bottom that
had Fowler confused until he was able to solve the riddle of
Bill’s guard.

Once Mike unlocked the combination to Bill’s guard he was
able to pass to cross mount.

Mike
Passing Bill "The Grill's" Guard

Once in cross mount Mike locks in the kimura

Mike
Locking Kimura

Bill is a magician in his own right with an expertise in escapes. Bill
was able to defend everything that Mike threw. He has a remarkable way
to recompose the guard. The match went back and forth with Mike trying
to pass and Bill trying to sweep/submit. Mike was able to pass
Bill’s guard two more times.

During a scramble Mike finally gets to his guard and is looking for his
triangle. Bill knows what’s coming and defends this position
like a seasoned pro. Then out of nowhere Mike hits his new sweep making
the score 11 * 0.

Then Mike was set up for “THE BRABO CHOKE”. Mike
was in position for the kill, he passed the lapel, adjusted his grip,
reached underneath to get the grip, passed his opponents are and
BAM!!!!!!!!!!! A full-blown brabo choke. Is this the way this epic
battle would end? Not if Bill had anything to do with it. Bill fought
his heart out to get our of this death hold but to no avail. Fowler had
it in to deep and was going for the kill, he could smell the tap coming
and then something he never even thought about happened. The time ran
out. Fowler is victorious 11* 0

Mike
Locking Brabo

Mike
With Hand Raised in Victory

Fowler would move on to submit everyone else in the light weight event
and also submit everyone in the heavy weight event, while Bill on the
other side moved on the NO GI division submitting everyone in dominate
fashion.

Fowler
Victorious Again

Here are some more pictures of Fowler submitting the big boys.

“Mike going for his Red Hot Butter Knife with the Bread
Cutter Choke”

“Mike finishing off the big guy with the good ole’
Arm Lock”

Mike Victorious

After the competition Mike Fowler had this to say. “
It’s great to be able to fly everywhere to compete against
the best people. Master Lloyd says I need to go find the people that
are the best and compete against them, win, lose or draw, go out there
and get the experience. That’s what I’m trying to
do. Today my game plan was really working well. The Game Plan I
followed today I actually showed in Master Lloyd’s new
product www.thegrapplinggameplan.com it’s been getting good
results. I’m going to sit down with Master Lloyd and see what
I’m going to take out and add.

"I’m really happy with my tournament win today. But to be
able to win two different divisions is a great feeling."

November
20, 2004:

"Darren
Johnson Sweeps His Division Winning GOLD"

Newly promoted blue belt Darren Johnson takes the LONG ROAD trip to
Middletown CT. from Clinton Maryland as the solo representative for
Team Lloyd Irvin, while his other teammates do battle in Georgia.

Darren won all of his matches by submission becoming the
“2004 New England Grappling Champion".

When asked about this competition Darren said. “ This was my
first competition that I’ve won, being able to call myself
the 2004 New England Grappling Champion feels really good.”
Darren Johnson
Brand New 2004 New England Grappling Champion

November
20, 2004:

"TEAM
LLOYD IRVIN SHINES IN GEORGIA"

When it comes to competition Team Lloyd Irvin’s philosophy is
simple. You got to go out there and put it on the line in order to
improve. You must seek out the best competitors and go compete against
them. The end result is that you will win or lose. If you lose, find
out what you did wrong, correct the mistake for next time and if you
win take it in stride because. “Things are never as good as
they seem and things are never as bad as they seem”

"Mike
"The Magician" Fowler Does It Again"

Well Mike’s nickname isn’t “The
Magician” really but after what happened this weekend
that’ll be his temporary nickname.

Mike Fowler has become a dominant force in the purple belt ranks in
America. His spotted hair and his willingness to travel anywhere top
competitors are competiting have allowed him to build quite a name for
himself.

On a weeks notice Master Lloyd told Fowler that 6th Degree Black Belt
Jacare’ was having a tournament in Georgia and that he had a
student who was supposed to be really tuff named Ryan Ellison that was
near his weight. In the Southeast Ryan is a very big name and the
purple belt to beat. Fowler was up to the challenge.

After arriving at the venue we learned that there were only two other
opponents in Mike’s division one of them being Ryan. So it
was on. Mike had traveled specifically to compete against Ryan and his
wish came true in the very first round of the Purple Belt medium.

You could tell it was Ryan’s home crowd because when the
announced Ryan’s name the crowd went wild. When the match
began Fowler pulled guard immediately attacking from his triangle and
brabo choke. Ryan didn’t look phased at all; just listening
to his masterful coach Jacare gives instruction to succefully escape
Fowlers Attacks.

Then in a moments notice Fowler shifted to his new half guard position
that he’s been working on. Ryan was off balance finally,
Fowler now switched to the X-Guard position. Everyone was telling Ryan
“ Remember what Fabio Gurgel showed us from this
position” for those that don’t know Fabio
Gurgel’s student Marcelo Garcia is the master of the X-Guard.
But it wasn’t to be; Fowler was to quick on his transitions
and was able to get the sweep for the two points. The crowd was silent
now. Ryan quickly got back to his feet, Fowler pulled guard again. This
time Ryan got to the ½ guard and was able to open up Fowlers
lapel. We heard that Ryan has crushing top pressure and it showed.
Fowler was stuck with nowhere to go. Finally Fowler was able to escape
but not without Ryan being in a great position to pass, Fowler was
trying his best to defend but Ryan’s pressure was too much
forcing him to turn out to avoid the pass giving up the advantage. Ryan
starts to work to take the back (The crowd is going wild). It was very
intense but we had only seen one person take Fowlers back ever in
competition so we were confident that he would be able to defend
himself in this position. Ryan was pushing the pace, he tried to side
over for the mount then Fowler defended that by pushing the leg over
then the time ran out. WHAT A BARN BURNER!!! Fowler wins by the score
of
2 * 0.

After the match people were saying that if Ryan had 30 more seconds he
would’ve won. We asked Mike what he thought about this and he
said “It’s hard to say, maybe he would’ve
gotten the points or maybe I would’ve continued to stop him
from getting the points and escaped. You never know. As a purple belt
you only have 7 minutes to do whatever you’re going to do.
When the 7 minutes are over you either win or lose. Today I won.

Mike
Fowler Defeats Ryan!!

THE
FINALS

In the finals Fowler would face a newly promoted purple belt from Team
Alliance. From the start Mike forced his game on his competitor. The
next thing you know Fowler was switching back and forth from triangle
to arm bar but he just didn’t have enough to finish it as his
opponent did an excellent job defending. Then a sudden whip he force
Fowler to turn out and then what happened had everyone in shock. He had
Mike Fowler in a FULL BLOWN Clock Choke! It was reminiscent of when
Wallid finished Royce Gracie with the Clock. (Everyone in the crowd was
on their feet.) Would the newcomer do the impossible? You could tell
from Fowlers movements that the choke was getting tighter. HE was in
the choke for about 20 seconds now. It didn’t look good at
all. We had faith he would be used to escaping from it. But this
looked like it might be the end of the road for Mike. But in a flash,
like a wizard from the Harry Potter movie Mike escaped, face red as an
apple, Mike pulled himself together to begin an attacking onslaught
like non other. Mike started running up the score passing the guard,
mounting and attacking submissions. He had a straight-arm bar, a
paintbrush, triangle, mount triangle but his opponent was a wizard
himself escaping every single hold. Then with about 20 seconds left
Fowler went from mount to arm bar, he straighten the arm out, then his
opponent raised his hand in preparation to tap but decided not to as
time ran out. Mike won by a staggering landslide of points and ended up
winning his division without a single point scored on him.

Mike
Catches His Opponent in A Vicious Triangle

Same
Opponent in a Triangle From the Mount

After being presented with the Gold medal we asked Mike what he thought
about his opponent he met in the finals. “ He was a very
tough guy, when he forced me to turn out he caught me in a choke. I
couldn’t believe it. He beat me to the transition. He was a
great guy and very nice. I enjoyed talking to him after the event. He
has a great attitude. That was a exciting match.”

"Mike
Easton Continues His Winning Streak"

About six months ago Mike Easton started proving that he’s a
force to be reckoned with in the BJJ Blue Belt divisions. Having
concentrated on NHB fighting most people didn’t even know Lil
Mike fought with the gi. The big day came a month ago at Gustavo
Machado’s Virginia BJJ Federation tournament that Mike had a
break out day winning his blue belt division and winning his very first
Blue belt Open Class Championship. Weighing only 145lbs he was able to
defeat opponents that weigh over 100lbs than himself. After learning
that Fowler was going to Georgia to hopefully face Ryan, Easton wanted
in to try his hand against the best the South East had to offer.

Mike Easton came into the event with his hair bleached blonde and
amazed the crowd with his acrobatic style of BJJ. Easton won his first
match in a war where he was always trying to pass the guard, finish
with the brabo but his opponent from Alliance kept putting him back
into the guard. Mike was able to pass a few times to get the victory.

In round two Easton used Master Rhadi’s pull/knee tap to
perfection. Easton has been working this takedown for the last two
weeks and it paid off. From this point on he performed perfect knee cut
across passes, perfect mounting techniques and flawless technique to
get the victory.

In the finals Mike completely dominated his opponent to get the win.
After winning the blue belt tournament Mike had this to
say…” This was my very first time going out of
town to compete in BJJ. I didn’t know what to expect. Boy was
this fun. It was nice meeting some new grapplers.”

MIKE
WINS THE ADVANCE NO GI

Mike
Sinks in His Guillotine!!

Mike
Finishes His Opponent With A Brabo Choke

Mike
Easton Victorious

Mike didn’t have anyone in the 145-advance division so he was
put into the 170lb division where he drew none other than Ryan Ellison
in the first round. Giving up 25 lbs to Ryan was a challenge in itself.
At the last minute there was an entry at the 145-weight class for Mike
to fight so he went into his normal division. Mike continued to show
his acrobatic style, passing the guard, mounting, knee on belly and
finally finishing with the Brabo choke. After the match this is what
Mike Had to say, ”I wish there were more people to compete
against in my division but my opponent was a great guy. He was very
tough in the match and never gave up. This is only my second time
entering an advance no gi division, the first time I entered the
advance no gi division I lost to David Jacobs, so I’m happy
that I got the victory. I’m looking forward to more losses
for the learning experience though but the victory feels
good.”

Mike
Easton Wins Gold!!

Jose
Villarisco Represents In an Impressive Manner!!

MR.
JOSE GET DOUBLE SILVERS

Mr. Jose also made the trip and ended up winning the Silver medal in
both the gi and no gi. For those that don’t know Mr. Jose
weighs 124 lbs and always has to fight people at a much higher weight
division. We were hoping that there would be other light guys to
compete against but it wasn’t to be. Mr. Jose ended up
competing in the 142lb division. All in all he did a great job bringing
home two medals.

Team Lloyd Irvin would like to thank Jacare for putting on a great
event and for the hospitality.

GREAT
JOB GUYS!!!

November
13, 2004:

"Team
Lloyd Irvin Lead By Buck Grant Cleans
House At The King of The Ring"

It was a clean sweep for Hybrid Academy of Martial Arts. 4 fighters
from HAMA competed in Muay Thai bouts in Virginia Beach's King of the
Ring. 4 fighters left the ring victorious. Among these fighters were
Richard Hernandez (130 lbs), Stacy Galloway (137), Leslie Flack (115),
and Brett Albee (245).

The first three matches were fought against Extreme Muay thai out of
New York. The result was two unanimous decisions for HAMA (Richa and
Leslie) and a TKO (via Stacy Galloway). Brett Albee fought in a bloody
3 round match that went to a split decision in HAMA's favor. After
suffering form a 2 inch cut above his right eye, Brett proceeded to
fight and turn the tide during three rounds of heavy weight Muay Thai
action.

Everyone at Team Lloyd Irvin is Very proud of you guys and ladies. Keep
up the great work.

October
23, 2004:

Mike Fowler Defeats The Giants

Team
Lloyd Irvin’s 160-170lb Fighter Mike Fowler made the
trip to California for the US. Open to battle with the best the West
Coast had to offer and ended having to face some giants.

When Mr. Mike arrived at the arena he soon learned that there was no
one in his weight division for him to fight. Mr. Mike called Master
Lloyd panicking that he wouldn’t be able to compete at all.
He had tried to move up to the next division but he was told that they
couldn’t switch him because the brackets had been set. Master
Lloyd asked to speak to his friend Claudio Franca who was tournament
promoter. After explaining to Claudio that Mr. Mike had traveled all
the way from the East Coast to support his event Claudio promised that
he would do everything in his power to get Mr. Mike into a regular
division.

Well Claudio was a man of his word and put Mr. Mike into a weight class
two divisions above his own. So Mr. Mike would have to fight against
the big boys. Mr. Mike was able to finish his first opponent and win on
points against his next opponent winning the US Open for the second
year in a row.

CONGRATS
MR. MIKE WAY TO GO!

October
18th, 2004:

Master Lloyd Promotes 3 New Blue Belts

The
time has come for 3 new students to take their place amongst Team
Lloyd Irvin's Blue Belt ranks.

After being an extremely dedicated student Brian O' Connor changed belt
colors last night. It was great to see how Brian has improved over the
years.

Brian

THE
TWO YOUNG GUNS

Kurt and Ryan Hall have completely dominated the white belt ranks. Kurt
has won his last 3 tournaments at the white belt ranks in impressive
fashion while Ryan has won approximately his last 16 matches all by
submission. If my memory serves me correctly neither one of these guys
have been training for over a year and don't forget Kurt is only 18
while Ryan is only 19 years old.

Kurt

Ryan

This all took place during Monday nights Black Belt Club Class, there
were 4 Black Belts in class, a bunch of brown and purple belts
including a huge group of white/blue belts. This had to be one of the
biggest test we had in awhile.

In closing I want to say that all three guys took the long walk like
"True Soldiers" it was very impressive. Boy was it a LONG line.

WAY
TO GO GUYS. Welcome to the ranks of the Blue Belts.

October
17th, 2004:

Lloyd Baldwin is #1
Lightweight Intermediate

We just received this email message.

Dear Master Lloyd, I would like to thank all my teammates from every
school. The support that I have received from MOD gym, the lab guys,
Nashville MMA, Lloyd Irvin Camp Springs, and Evolve @ all the tourneys
this year has been incredible. I have just achieved my goal of becoming
the number 1 grappler in the lightweight intermediate division in the
rated system. Competing all the time is tough but when team Lloyd Irvin
has your back and everyone wants to see you succeed its makes things a
whole lot easier. A team effort makes all the difference. Once again
thank you to everyone for your support.

Sincerely,
Lloyd Baldwin MOD
Richmond VA

Mike
Easton and Lloyd Baldwin

CONGRATS
LLOYD for achieving one of your goals.

October
16th, 2004:

Team
Lloyd Irvin's Competition Team had a busy, exciting weekend.

On Saturday October 16, 2004 Team Lloyd Irvin took a small team to
compete in the annual Va. Beach BJJ Tournament.

BROWN
BELT DIVISION

Starting with the Brown Belt division Team Lloyd Irvin’s Brad
Court
Brought home the gold.

His first match was against Yamasaki student Noah Booth, in a very
tough match Brad won by advantages.

And in the FINALS we saw another Team Lloyd Irvin vs. Yamasaki match up
pitting Brad Court vs. the always tough David Jacobs.

This was a very strategical match with Brad finally securing a triangle
choke on David forcing him to tap.

PURPLE
BELT DIVISION

Mike Fowler had two matches. In the first match up he was able to get
the sweep, pass the guard and finish with a perfect clock choke.

In the second match Mike forced his game on his opponent and once again
finished with a clock choke.

BLUE
BELT DIVISION

Mr. Jose had one match and was able to pull off one of our
“SNEAKY SECRET SUBMISSION” The guy didn’t
know what hit him. Way to go Jose!

Mike Easton after concentrating NHB Fighting finally decided to put the
gi back on and see what he had. We’ll it would be very hard
to tell that Mike hasn’t had the gi on in a long time. He was
working his fast paced and very exciting game. Flipping, twisting,
running around in circles, rolling, and of course as always
“SMILING”.

Mike stole the show for Team Lloyd Irvin as he won his weight division
and won his first ever open division.

Charles KIL won the Bronze but was knocked unconscious due to an
unintentional headbutt

Seth Smith took home the bronze medal.

Big Darren who was just promoted to Blue Belt last week go his first
blue belt win in his first match.

WHITE
BELT DIVISION

In this division Ryan Hall dominated the 161lb weight class by
submitting all 4 of his opponents in under 1 minute. Ryan then entered
the absolute division where he submitted his first opponent and lost in
the semifinals to an opponent who weighed 250lbs.

Jay Young took home the Bronze medal. Jay, who has only been training
for 5 weeks, entered his first competition ever. His first match was
one of the most exciting matches of the day. He was down 14 x 6 with
only 1 min left when he secured the Kimura on his more experienced
opponent. Jay went on to win his next match and lost in the semifinals
to another Team Lloyd Irvin fighter.

Way to go everyone, keep up the good work.

July 19th, 2004:

Master Donnie FINALLY gets the PURPLE BELT

Master
Donnie has been
working a LONG time to get to where he is in BJJ.
After winning the first ever Va. Beach Jiu-Jitsu Federation tournament
a
few years ago he took a break from BJJ competition. Making his return
to competition Master Donnie won two divisions at this weekends
tournament. And tonight Master Lloyd passed him to the rank of purple
belt in BJJ. Way to go BIG D.

July 19th, 2004:

Master Lloyd Promotes Amy Moses to Purple Belt

After
many years of
practice,
dedication and a very impressive first
place victory at the Copa this past weekend Amy Moses finally changes
belt colors. Just look at her ALL SMILES as usual. CONGRATS AMY. A
very well deserved promotion.

July 12th, 2004:

Chad Lebrun Gets The BJJ BROWN BELT!!!

On Saturday July 10, 2004 Master Lloyd
and Master Dalla
Promoted Chad Lebrun to the well deserved Brown Belt.

Master
Dalla tying the new brown
belt

Master
Lloyd and Master Dalla
with their newest Brown Belt who's ALL SMILES

June 19th, 2004:

NEWS
FLASH "Mike
Fowler is #1 in the World, Regional, and National RATED Points
Standings"

This weekend's results:

"Mike Fowler SUBMITS Everyone At Wake Forrest"

Mike Fowler does it again!!! He has turned up the heat in his quest to
become a BJJ World Champion. Last week in Tennessee and this weekend in
Wake Forest, North Carolina.

Mike found out about a tournament in NC. Friday night, hopped on a plane
Saturday morning to get some more gi matches in to help him get ready
for the World Championships in Brazil next month.

Mike was able to tap every single person in his weight division and the
Absolute weight class.

This weekend Mike Fowler started his
preparation for the
World Championships traveling to Nashville Tennessee to compete in the
Purple Belt Gi division. As you know Fowler has been on a tear the last
12 months competing in no gi events but now is completely focused on
his gi training.

In his first Gi competition since winning the USA vs. Brazil
Championships Mike was able to win both his weight division and the
Open Weight Class at the Nashville Open sponsored by Gameness and
Grappler Gear.

At
the Combat Sports
Challenge Team Lloyd Irvin had two competitors fighting in Muay Thai
matches this weekend.

One of our matches was a WKA Flyweight Muay Thai Title Fight.

Mike Easton was first up. His original opponent came into the weigh ins
ten pounds over weight. He was told that he would have to lose the ten
pounds and after about thirty minute he decided that he
didn’t want to
lose the weight. So mike was left with no opponent.

Another guy who was supposed to make 140 pounds came in seven pounds
over weight so Mike was asked to switch opponents. We agreed and the
fight was set.

Mike Easton’s Fight lasted three hard fought rounds. Mike
comes out
hard throwing some hard leather. Mike catches his opponent’s
kicks and
drops him with a cut kick, the crowd went wild. Mike started to press
his opponent up against the ropes were he started to punish him with
repeated knees and punches. His opponent was very tough and was
attacking aggressively but Mike was able to weather the storm and force
his will.

After three rounds of action Mike Easton was declared the winner. Of
course Mike did his traditional dance in the ring.

Mike
Easton victory

WAY
TO GO MIKE.

This next match was a rematch that has been in the making for over 2
years. Jose Villirisco and Nelson Lebron fought in a kickboxing match 2
years ago with Jose winning a very close decision. You must remember
that Jose does Muay Thai not American Kickboxing. This time around they
would meet in a Muay Thai match for a WKA Title. The wait is over.

Jose
getting final instructions
from the head ref

Round
One

Jose comes out looking like he was sparring in the gym, calm as ever.
Nelson comes out with lighting speed in his hands. Throwing crisp and
clean combinations. Jose stepped back and landed a HUGE leg kick that
you could hear throughout the entire stadium. At this point Nelson knew
that he was in for a WAR.

After a few more flurries, kicks and knees Jose caught Nelson with a
Long Range straight knee that sent Nelson to the canvas. The crowd was
on their feet. No one could believe it. Was the fight over? The ref
started giving the 10 count he was at 6,7,8 was Nelson going to get up?
9, 10 the fight was over. Jose got a Team Lloyd Irvin shirt and went
around the ring showing the team’s logo to the crowd.

Jose
with his hand raised in
Victory

Jose
is the new WKA
Flyweight National Muay Thai Champion.

This was a great victory as this was Jose’s first fight in
over a year
and he was itching to get into the ring.

Jose
with his Championship Belt
and Trophy

CONGRATS
JOSE.

May 22nd, 2004:

Grapplers Quest US Nationals Results

We
had a great day at the US
Nationals this year. Here are some of the results.

BEGINNERS

Zach Davis GOLD
Matt Harbison SILVER
Kareem Amerson- BRONZE

Kareem
gets 4 for taking the back

Kareem
wins

INTERMEDIATE

Jay Simon wins the GOLD after doing the most unusually and mind blowing
technique ever seen on the mat. If you want to know what it was you
have to ask one of the guy. (ha-ha)

MASTERS DIVISION

Master Paul brings home the SILVER in his division.

Master
Paul on the winners podium

ADVANCE DIVISION

Jared Weiner wins the Advance Divisions bringing home the GOLD.

Jared
brings home the
Championship belt

Mike
Fowler wins the
Advance Divisions Bringing home the GOLD submitting 3 opponents along
the way.

Mike
Fowler submitting his
opponent in the finals with a triangle

Fowler
brings home the
Championship belt

PRO DIVISION

Nakapan makes it to the finals in the Pro Division and gets the SILVER
losing by 2 points in Over Time. Nakapan beat Renzo Gracie Black Belt
Amal Easton along the way in a great technical match to advance to the
finals.

Nak
working to pass Amals guard

Nak
getting his hand raised in
victory

May 8th, 2004:

Team Lloyd Irvin Wins The King Of The Ring 165lb NHB Tournament

Lloyd
Irvin Blue Belt Dave
Kaplan fought in a MMA Tournament for the King of the Ring 165lb title.
Dave fights out of The Hybrid Academy in Va Beach and is trained by
Lloyd Irvin Brown Belt Ken Parham and Lloyd Irvin Blue Belt Buck Grant.
To win the 165lb title, Dave would have to fight 2 times in one
evening. Everyone in the crowd was very excited, because Mixed Martial
Arts Tournaments are very rare now days, unlike the early years of the
UFC. Dave's first fight was against the super skilled Erin Moser.

Round 1

Dave
immediately stalked Erin, using his punches to set up the clinch. Dave
transitioned to a beautiful takedown, passing the guard and getting the
mount. Dave severely punished Erin from the mount. Throwing punch after
punch. People in the audience mentioned they have only seen this type
of punishment on International Vale Tudo Tapes from Brazil. The referee
noticing that Erin was about to be KO'd stopped the fight at 1:38 of
the 1st round.

The celebration
was
short-lived.

One Down, One to Go

THE FINALS

In the finals Dave was to
meet Binky
Jones, who is an ex-collegiate wrestler with excellent takedown and
submission skills. Binky fights out of Renzo Gracie Affiliate, John
Rallos Ground Control in Baltimore.

This fight was the MAIN
EVENT!

Binky
Jones used to train at Lloyd Irvin’s Martial Arts and David
promised to
bring the Belt back to Team Lloyd Irvin.

Round 1

When the fight started, Dave showed off
his Muay Thai
skills throwing punches and landing a nice high kick to the head of
Binky who immediately clinched. Binky landed a nice hip throw on Dave
landing on top in side control.

However, Dave was ready for a WAR!

For those that know Dave, he LOVES going for leg locks and this fight
would be no different. Dave quickly escaped out of side control and
transitioned into an ankle lock. Binky fought threw it and then they
scrambled for position where Binky gained control of the mount. Once
again Dave reversed the position, landing on top of Binky's guard. From
the top Dave was landing some very effective strikes.

Although Dave probably could have taken Binky out with strikes, Ken
trained him to finish with submissions. So Dave was hungry to make
Binky tap with another ankle lock attempt. This time it was tight as
Binky was wincing in pain. But remember this WAR was filled with many
mini battles and once again Binky powered out and again regained the
top position, landing in Dave's 1/2 guard where the round ended.

Round 2

The second round was all Dave. He came
out and took
control of the fight. After the round started, Binky shot in with Dave
sprawling back and catching binky in a tight front headlock. Dave
quickly began punishing Binky to the head and body with punches and
knees. Binky went to his guard where Dave did something that caught
everyone by surprise.

He stood up, kicked Binky in the legs several times and then did a
Sakuraba jumping kick on Binky; the whole entire crowd went crazy! In
the process, Binky gave up his back, and Dave continued to hammer down
onto Binky. Dave attempted a rear naked choke, and he was close to
getting it, but somehow Binky escaped. Both fighters went back to
standing and Binky desperately tried to take Dave down. Dave went for a
guillotine choke, and everyone thought for sure Binky was going to tap,
but he withered his way out.

The round ended shortly thereafter with the entire crowd on their feet
cheering for both combatants. Dave was declared the winner and the new
King of the Ring 165lb MMA Champion. Look for even bigger and better
things from Dave in the near future.

WAY TO GO DAVE

May 1st, 2004:

Team
Lloyd
Irvin Brings Home The GOLD!!!

This
weekend we had competitors in NC for theGrapple Mania event and the US.
Judo Nationals.

These are partial results from Grapple Mania.

Brett Tillet won his Advance Division making this his first competition
in a long time. Look for BIG things from Brett, he's looking aggressive
and technical.

Doug stepped up to the plate and took home the GOLD. Doug is one of our
best kept secrets but he won't be a secret that much longer.

In the 8 man super fight invitational two of our Black Belts stepped up
to the plate.

First Leo Dalla who will be opening a new school in Falls Church
Virginia this month.

Dalla showed an excellent triangle set up in the first match that
caught everyone off guard. His opponent was forced to tap out in
regulation.

In his second match at the end of the regulation time the score was
0*0. In over time Dalla turned up the heat and scored 11 unanswered
points winning 11*0.

In the finals we closed the
bracket winning the title for Team Lloyd Irvin.

One
step closer to the Olympics

Rhadi still fighting to keep his number one status in America
went to the Nationals with only one purpose on his mind.

And that was leaving the Number One 100 kilo Judoka in the US.

But Mike Barnes the number two Judoka had different plans. So
here is the story. Number one on one side of the bracket and
number two on the other side to decide who was going into the
Olympic Trials with the number one seed.

Rhadi shows why his groundwork is considered one of the best in
Judo in the World. Finishing his first opponent. On the other
side Barnes dispatches his first opponent. Second match for Rhadi
his opponent tries to bring the heat but Rhadi is to much for him.

Then in Barnes second match something interesting happened. He
was fighting the ever crafty Curly and guess what. Curly Tapped
Barnes with an armbar. It was over Rhadi would be number one and
didn't have to fight another match. Everyone from our camp was
excited. It was time to go home and not risk an injury fighting
anymore matching that didn't help us reach our goal of the Olympics.

Then Rhadi made a decision that caught everyone off guard. He wanted
to fight at least one more match. Why would he do this? Why would he
risk this before the Olympics? Well if you remember that Rhadi just
returned from a 7 month injury layoff you will understand this story.

When Rhadi was injured and had total reconstructive knee surgery the
match that it happened in was against a guy named Mark Fletcher. After
the match rumors started floating around and it came back that Fletcher
had said that Rhadi wasn't really injured he was just scared, He could
see the fear in Rhadi's eyes. For those of you that know how we train
you understand the having fear isn't even a possibility. Maybe we'll
lose but fear, NEVER.

So here we are with the number one seed already and we can go home. But
guess who Rhadi would face next if he decided not to pull out? YOu
guessed it, Mark Fletcher. So Rhadi doesn't pull out and continues to
let Fletcher know that we fear no man born of woman. At one point Rhadi
picked Fletcher up so high and dropped him the entire stadium went "Uh
AH"

After putting Fletcher out of the tournament Rhadi was in the finals
where he now did the smart thing and pulled out giving Curly the
National
title.

So that all being said on June 5, 2004 Team Lloyd Irvin Competition
Team member Rhadi Ferguson will be the number one seed for the
2004 Olympic Trials.

Good job to everyone

April
3rd, 2004:
NEW JERSEY NHB

Mike
Easton
Wins Reality Fighting Lightweight Title By Knock Out

April
3, 2004 we had to fighters fighting for Titles. Mike Easton was
fighting for the Reality Fighting 145 lb Title and Muhsin Corbbrey
fighting for the 155lb Title.

This was a fun filled night. We had over 50 students make the 4 hour
trip to support their training partners.

In the first fight Mike Easton made his way to the ring in what may
people in attendance said was “The best fight entrance
they’ve ever
seen”. If you haven’t seen the tape yet make sure
you watch it.

After his electrifying entrance it was all business.

The when the bell rang Mike Easton charged across the ring and jumped
into the air going for a flying knee. The knee missed the in deeded
landing destination but landed on the chest. The crowd is going crazy.
From this point on the pace was set and neither competitor stepped down
from the challenge.

His opponent Jay Isip meant business as both competitors were letting
their hands fly as if they could smell a knock out over the horizon. In
one exchange Jay hit Mike with a 4-count combination that had the crowd
on their feet again. Isip being from New Jersey had almost the entire
convention center filled with his fans.

After the combination Mike threw a double jab, over hand right that if
he had landed it we’re sure it would’ve ended the
fight. Jay wasn’t
having it and continued to throw bombs. Mike was working the
clinch-throwing knee after knee, while Isip was going for the KO.

Mike finally took Jay down into the mount where Jay used his amazing
strength to power out and end up in the guard. From the Guard Jay threw
punishing blows from the top, Mike weathered the storm and was able to
catch Jay in a triangle choke where he pounded Jay. Incredibly Jay was
able to escape the triangle, flip Mike over and apply a choke of his
own. Mike escaped the choke while gaining the mount position; with
about 10 seconds left in round one Mike threw bombs from the mount
until the bell rang.

End of round one, the
crowd is on their feet.

ROUND 2

Mike comes out with a big take down. Jay
gives his back
to avoid the mount; at this point Mike takes his back. This was the
beginning of the end for Jay. Mike went from the back to the mount back
to the back to the mount delivering a tremendous amount of punches. At
one point we thought that the match should’ve been stopped.
But to
Jay’s credit he is one tough guy. He kept fighting with
everything he
had. In the end Mike got the mount with Jay’s arms trapped
throwing
vicious shots then all you could see was Jay’s entire body go
limp. He
was out. The ref jumped in and Mike Easton was the Reality Fighting
Champion.

We want
to give the utmost respect to Jay Isip who was a true warrior and

came to fight.

MIKE
EASTONE is the new Reality Fighting Lightweight Champion.

Our next fight
featured Muhsin Corbbrey vs. Kurt Pellegrino

This fight went 3 rounds in the same exact fashion each round. Fight
started Kurt secured a takedown with Kurt throwing punches while Musing
was trying submission and sweeps.

Kurt was a takedown machine that night and was able to keep Muhsin from
getting to his feet. Muhsin showed the heart of a LION fighting from
off his back the entire night.

Both of these competitors gave it their all with Kurt winning the
decision at the end.

This was Muhsins first loss and we know he’ll be back
stronger than
ever.

April
2- 4, 2004:
CALIFORNIA

Team
Lloyd
Irvin Brings Home 4 GOLDS, 3 SILVERS, and 3 BRONZE Medals from the Pan
American Championships

Members from Team Lloyd Irvin went to
compete in the
Countries biggest Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Competition “The Pan
American
Games”. After it was all said in done we brought home a lot
of hard
wear.

To start off this year was the first year of the Team USA vs. Team
BRAZIL CHALLENGE.

Here is the Purple Belt
USA Team From left to right
Bradon Vera 1st position and Mike Fowler 7th position.

This is how this works. At the American Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu National
Championship the American National Champion gets to face a Champion
from Brazil in a one on one competition.

Two Team Lloyd Irvin Competitors were victorious against the Brazilian
Champions this year.

Team USA vs. Team BRAZIL Champions

Mike Fowler and Brandon Vera. CONGRATULATIONS GUYS!!!

Now to the regular weight divisions.

In the Blue belt division Mark Lafone took GOLD in his weight division
and SILVER in the Open Division

In the Purple Belt division Brandon Vera told GOLD in his weight
division.

In the Female Purple/Brown/Black Sharon Bonewicz got the BRONZE

In the Brown Belt division David Womack to SILVER in his weight
division.

In the Black Belt division Mike Moses took SILVER in his weight division

Black Belt Jared Wiener Black Belt Bronze

4 GOLDS, 3 SILVERS, and 3 BRONZE Medals. Way to Represent.

Febuary
22nd, 2004:

The
Grapplers
Quest Beast
of the East Results

Super
Fight Results

This
weekend at the Grapplers Quest there was great competition. Tyrone
Glover was training with us from West Coast taking on Team Renzo Gracie
fighter Joe Scarola, Mike Fowler was in the 160 pound tournament and
Jared Weiner was featured in a Black Belt Super fight against a Ryan
Gracie fighter from Brazil.

First
up was our own Mike Fowler who was taking on the West Coasts Jeff
" The Pipe Layer" Glover (Paragon Jiu Jitsu), Undefeated
and
Unscored-Upon 4-Time Grapplers Quest West Champion. This was a battle
of two submission hungry machines.

The
match started with Jeff pulling guard. Mike was trying to pass butJeff's guard was
unreal. At one
point Jeff transitioned in to a omo
plata on Mike which he calmly escaped. Jeff was throwing submission
attempts while Mike was trying to pass his guard. Finally like a
Magician pulling out a trick deck of cards Mike was able to solve the
riddle of Jeff Glovers guard and secure a pass where he immediately
caught Jeff's arm for a Kimura and Jeff was forced to tap out. Jeff was
a GREAT competitor.

.Mike
Fowler victorious over Jeff "The Pipe Layer" Glover

Next
up was Jared Weiner.

This
match looked like a Judo match in the beginning. With Jareds Judo
experience and later finding out that his opponent Renato Migliaccio was
a Brazilian National Champion in Judo also explained why. Both fighter
were working for their grips when Jared had to readjust his right grip.
When Jared tried to re-grip Renato threw Jared with ippon seionage for
the 2 points. Jared popped right back up and pulled guard. The fight
stayed on the ground with Renato trying to pass; with about 15 seconds
left Jared caught Renato in a full-blown triangle/armbar submission.
The crowd was going wild. While Jared extending his arm the time ran
out. Talk about teeth clinchers. Renato wins 2 * 0.

Jared
working his grip fighting

Great
job Jared. Renato was also a really great guy!

Next
up Tyrone Glover(Cassio Werneck)

Tyrone had been
training with us
all week getting ready for this battle
again Joe Scarola. Tyrone went out and did what he does best, GO FOR
SUBMISSIONS!!! This was probably the most exciting fight of the day and
anyone trained by Matt Serra you know they are submission machines also.
Tyrone would go for a submission then Joe would go for a submission and
this went back and forth for quite some time. At one point Tyrone had a
toe hold on Joe that everyone thought the match was going to be over but
Joe being tough as nails gutted it out and escaped. During a fast paced
scrabble Tyrone took Joe's back and got the 4 points. At the end of this
great match Tyrone had won 6*2. Congrats Tyrone.

Tyrone on Joe's back securing 4 points

Tyrone going for a footlock

In
the Finals of the 160 lb tournament Mike faced Kurt "Batman"
Pelligrino from Team Renzo Gracie. In the first part of the match Kurt
went for a take down that Mike defended with a hard sprawl, then Mike
jumped to his guard. About 20 seconds later the ref awards two points
for a take down. People couldn't believe that the ref awarded the
points. The match ended with Kurt trying to pass and Mike trying to
sweep. Kurt wins 2 * 0.

Congrats
to Mike for putting up a great fight and defeating the
previously undefeated Jeff Glover.

Congrats
to Jeff for winning the match for third/fourth by forcing Brian
Dushez from Team Yamasaki to tap out to a triangle choke.

Mike
Easton won his weight division and now is going to fully
concentrate on his upcoming NHB Title Fight on April 3, 2004.www.realityfighting.tv

The
answer to this question was taken from an internet forum and was posted
by Gazzy Parman. This is what she had to say.

Team
Lloyd Irvin were BEASTS!!!!

First
up was Mike Fowler in a Grappling Super Fight.

Mike
Fowler had a grappling match against a guy named Andrew, about 15 lbs
heavier than Mike F., that he's fought 4 other times before Sat. night.

I
believe Mike Fowler was victorious every time they fought. Last night
Mike took Andrew off his feet, lifted him about 5 feet off of the
ground and dropped
him right on his back. This was a great fight!

It
started with Mike F. in Andrew's guard since Mike got the double. Mike
proceeded to pass when Andrew attempted a figure four on Mike's foot,
aka a toe hold, but Mike didn't budge and continued for his pass and
got it. At one point I believe Mike began an attack for the arm bar
when he fell to his back. Andrew defended it but now Andrew was stuck
in Mike's guard. Mike was trying for the $100 DOLLA move (inside
between Master Lloyd and Mr. Mike) cuz he wanted his HUNDRED DOLLA!! He
actually got it too!! Andrew hung on for dear life and was positioning
his hand right about to tap, actually almost did when Mike released and
started working for a different finish. If Mike F. would have held on
for another 2 seconds, it would have been a finish via some
kinda traingle...

Mike Fowler showing off his championship trophy

Next
up was Mike Easton in a NHB match.

Mike
aquired the nickname "HULK". His opponent tried to work from the guard
but Mike E. didn't even give him a chance to move. After a beautiful
takedown, Mike proceeded to punch the guy's face relentlessly. After
numerous blows to his body and face, Mike stood up and slammed the guy
at least 5 times. Before the poor dude even hit the ground, Mike was
already punching at
his face. That was pretty much the way the whole fight went.

In
the beginning, Mike's opponent looked pretty strong with his stand up.
When he realized Mike was a little beast and stayed standing with him
for a while delivering some hard knees from the clinch, kicked and
punched a few good ones then finished with a hard double- leg sweeping
the guy off of his feet, his spirit was broken. Mike's opponent did a
great job at continuing with everything he had, but Mike was just
relentless. After winning the fight, Mike looked at Master Lloyd Irvin
and his father with a big smile then did the cutest little dance number
that impressed everyone once more.

Muhsin's
fight was also off the hook!! Muhsin is on a mission in 2004 and
Giovanni just happened to be his first opponent. It was a quickie. They
went standing for a while trading blows before Muhsin took the guy down
and continued working his ground game. He passed the guys guard,
mounted, fell back for the arm bar when his opponent sat up right into
the traingle. Muhsin slipped it in

right
quick and it was TAP TAP TIME...

Muhsin is victorious

After
Muhsin's hand was raised for the victory, he looked right at Master
Lloyd with a big smile just like Mike Easton and Mike Fowler, and
represented his love for Master Lloyd Irvin by holding up the team
shirt and walking around the ring showing it to the crowd.

Team
Lloyd Irvin was ruling that night. It was great to see how much love
Master Lloyd's students have for him.

Hats
off to team Lloyd Irvin. Strong spirit, deep love, total teamwork.

This
is a team photo that was taken after the event before everyone went out
to eat. Everyone that came to support is not shown in the photo as some
people had to leave after the event. We had well over 50 parents,
family, friends, team mates pack up in their cars and make the trip.
Talk about team support.

Next
stop March 6,2004, The King of the Ring. Jose villirisco will be
fighting for the lightweight title. For more information about this
event visit
http://www.kingofthering.org/

April
3, 2004 Muhsin will be fighting Kurt Pelligrino from Team Renzo Gracie
for the 155 lb title at Reality Fighting 6. Mike Easton will be
fighting Jay Isip for the 145 lb title. For more information about this
event visit. http://www.realityfighting.tv/

December
6th , 2003:

Mike Fowler Defeats Ralek Gracieto
Win
Purple Belt Open Division

This
weekend there was fierce competition in California’s
Grappling Games.

Team
Lloyd Irvin brings home TWO GOLD MEDALS!!!

The
day started off very disappointing. After traveling almost 3000 miles
to compete in an event that we thought would be loaded with purple
belts Mike found out that there was only one competitor in the 148-160
pound division.

So
in the first match
it was Team Lloyd Irvin’s Mike
Fowler against a very game Brazilian. The Brazilian pulled guard and
the game began. Mike was aggressively trying to pass the guard, but his
opponent had a excellent open guard that was giving Mike some problems.
The Brazilian was attacking sweep after sweep, while looking to come on
top. At one point he elevated Mike into the air, which looked like he
was going to be swept, but Mike was able to cartwheel out to avoid it.
With about 2 minutes left, Mike finally solved the mystery of the
Brazilians guard and was able to secure a guard pass. Once in the cross
it was time to look for submissions, Mike started moving in for his
patented choke, once there the time ran out.

Mike
Wins the GOLD in his
division

After
the match, Mike was feeling the effects of being sick all week and
decided not to enter the open weight division. But when they announced
that Ralek Gracie had entered the purple belt open division, Mike
couldn’t pass on the chance to possibly get to fight a
Gracie. So he
entered the open division.

The
Brackets were set with Mike on one side of the bracket and Ralek on the
other side. You could feel the excitement building in the stadium. If
both could make it to the finals, this would be a match for the ages.

In
the first match of the
open, Mike faced an
opponent
from Jean-Jacques Machado that out weighed him by 60 pounds.. This was
a very boring match for the first six minutes.

Mike
started by pulling ½ guard, his opponent was awarded an
advantage then it appeared that he was content on not moving at all.
The referee warned him for stalling, but he just wouldn’t
move. Mike
was trying to escape but he just couldn’t budge this giant.
Realizing
that his day was about to be over if something didn’t change
he started
using every technique he knew and finally was able to regain his guard.
From there, being down an advantage, he went on a non stop flurry
trying to submit and sweep his opponent, but it was clear that his
opponent trying to stall out a victory.

With
about one minute left, Mike went to open guard to look for more sweeps,
when out of nowhere his opponent sat back for a leg-lock. Mike was able
to come up on top where he landed in his opponents ½ guard.
The
crowd was on their feet routing for the little guy. With only 10
seconds remaining Mike was able to free his leg for the guard pass.
Talk about clinching your teeth.

On
the other side of the bracket Ralek Gracie submitted his first opponent
rather quickly.

Mike’s
second
match was against the
Brazilian he fought in his weight division. This time Mike pulled guard
first and was able to pull off his triangle from ½ guard in
about 2-3 minutes.

Mike’s
in the FINALS!

On
the other side of the Bracket Ralek taps his opponent within a minute
by foot lock.

It’s
set, Mike Fowler vs. Ralek
Gracie in the FINALS.

You
could feel the excitement in the crowd. Everyone in the entire stadium
gathered around the mat to see this epic East Coast vs. West Coast
match up.

On
one side of the bracket you have one of the East Coasts brightest
stars, who since getting his purple belt only 4 months ago has been on
a tear fighting as much as he can.

On
the other side of the bracket you have the son of Rorion Gracie, the
man responsible for bringing Gracie Jiu-Jitsu to America and the
creator of the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship.) Ralek Gracie, is a
person that has been doing Jiu-Jitsu since he was a child.

Mike,
having won the 148-160 pound division, and Ralek, having won the
174-188 pound division. This was a battle of Champion vs. Champion.

THE
FINALS

This
match was so fast and high speed that I won’t even try to do
a play by
play and would highly recommend that if you get a chance to see this
match, to get the video, download the link, or whatever.

Here
it is in a nutshell.

Mike
went for a takedown that was unsuccessful, but ended up getting a sweep
from his guard moving directly into a guard pass making it 5 * 0. At
this point the game began, everyone one knows that Mike is always
looking for the finish but what made this so exciting is that Ralek is
a submission machine also. Mike almost took Raleks back, but his
defense was excellent. These guys were moving so fast going for sweep
and submissions at rapid speeds. At one point Ralek caught Mike in a
foot lock that everyone in the stadium thought it was lights out for
Mike but he is well versed in foot lock escapes and was able to gut it
out. Ralek started attacking for more submissions. One time he had Mike
in a Kimura and Mike was somehow able to spin into his own armbar on
Ralek, landing out of bounds. The crowd was going wild, everyone was
shouting. Mike was winning 8 * 4 with 90 seconds left. The Gracie
corner was giving Ralek instructions, while Master Lloyd was getting
Mike motivated for a 90 second war, this is where those 30 second
drills come in handy. Mike pulled guard again and Ralek went on a
constant attacking spree almost passing to the mount but Mike was able
to trap his leg to avoid the pass. Ralek immediately went for a sleeve
choke and with 10 seconds left swithed it to a armbar. Mike was
defending with just seconds left he was able to get his elbow below
Ralek's groin to begin a counter when the time ran out.

Mike
Fowler passing Ralek's guard

Mike
Fowler work for a submission on Ralek

After
the Referee raises Mikes hand in victory, Mike collapses on the mat.
Both Mike and Ralek received a standing ovation from the crowd.

Rorion
Gracie comes over to congratulated Master Lloyd and Mike for the
victory.

Mike
showing off his well-deserved hardware

After
the match Mike said,

“That
was the most fun I’ve had in a match. It was a great
experience
fighting someone that goes for so many submissions like I do.
I’m glad
I always work on my counters. (Laughing) Ralek was great both on and
off the mat.”

What
was it like fighting a Gracie?

“It
was fine, my mental preparation went well. I think I can beat anyone
when Master Lloyd is in my corner, he didn’t want me to think
about him
being a Gracie and had me focus more on fighting my best trying to
impose my game.”

This
weekend we sent
three members of our
competition team to compete in the
2003 American National Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Championships in California hosted by the CBJJ
headed by Carlos Gracie Jr..

Mike Fowler Purple Belt

Brad Court Brown Belt

Jared Weiner Black Belt

The winners of this event not only will
become BJJ National Champions but they will
represent Team USA vs. Team Brazil at the
2004 Pan Ams.

Last year Jared Weiner became our first
National Champion as a Brown Belt.

This year we add Two more National Champions
to Team LLoyd Irvin and a Silver Medalist.

First
match

Mikes
opponent pulls guard. Mike is aggressively working to
pass his opponents guard and finally end up in the cross mount position
getting his 3 points for the pass. Once in the cross side Mike did what
he does best, look for the submission. After going for different set
ups Mike Fowler finally submits his opponent with a collar choke.

Mike
Fowler
becomes the “2003 American National
Purple Belt Champion”

Mike
is super excited
about his first National Title but wants more fights so he decides to
jump into the purple belt Open weight division.

Open
Weight Division

In
his first match he faces a
touch
competitor from Jean Jacques Machado. This was a battle with both
competitors scoring multiple advantages on each other. Late into the
match Mike decided to play his new inverted game that he’s
been working
on lately. Well it sure came in handy, Mike was able to keep his
opponent off balance with this very awkward position and finally was
able to sweep his opponent for the 2 points and the VICTORY. What a
close one.

In
his second match
Mike’s opponent pulled
guard, Mike was able to work one of his new passes to end up in the
cross side where he immediately started working for a submission. After
many positional changes Mike secured a chokehold and his opponent was
force to tap out.

Now
came the FINALS.

Remember
that this is the open division with NO WEIGHT class.
Mike is weighing in around 155 pounds but sometimes fights at 149
pounds. Well his opponent in the finals was at least 40-50 pounds
bigger than Mike and had just tapped both of his opponents with foot
locks.

Not
wanting to try to trade takedowns with the Giant Mike
pulls guard and is very careful to protect his feet. Once Mike pulled
guard everyone thought it was over because we found out that this guy
is a guard-passing machine. Well Mike is used to tight guard passing
pressure and it’s a good thing that he’s been
adding some new things to
his guard over the last two weeks because they really came in handy.
Mike and Master Lloyd have been working on a new triangle variation
that is practically undetectable to an opponent until it’s
too late
(YES another one on top of the ½ guard triangle). Well Mike
caught his opponent in this choke but lost his grip because he was so
big. Mike was able to get some more advantages and almost got his
patented ½ guard triangle but couldn’t completely
lock his legs.
Time ran out giving Mike the victory.

Mike
Fowler “2003 American National Purple Belt Open
Class Champion”

Brad Court

In
Brad’s very first
fight as a brown belt
he pulled guard, got a sweep, took his opponents back went to the mount
and took the back again. Looking for different submissions Brad was
attacking from the mount and attacking with brabo chokes. Time ran out
with Brad winning the match. Brad said his opponent was a really nice
guy.

“It’s
always nice
to get the first fight at your new belt out of the way”

In
the finals Brad got caught
with a big
throw in the beginning of the match. Brad was able to work back to
½ guard and eventually back to his butterfly guard. At this
point Brad was attacking trying to get a sweep. After several different
attacks Brad executed a beautiful butterfly sweep. From the top
position Brad starts to work his guard passing, with beautiful
technique Brad passes the guard, his opponent come back up and Brad
jumps guard. Now back in the guard Brad is attacking working for
submissions finally landing a triangle, his opponent is aggressively
trying to counter the triangle choke and forces Brad to let go. After
such a hard fought battle the split second he escaped he appeared to
take a rest to get himself together or something and Brad slapped
another triangle choke back on this time there would be no escaping
Brads triangle. He had no other choice but to tap out to
Brad’s
triangle. Giving Brad the WIN!!!

Brad
Court “2003
American National Brown Belt Champion”

Jared Weiner

Let
me start off by saying Jared was fighting against
everyone’s wishes because he just recently suffered what many
thought
was a very serious knee injury. We still don’t know exactly
what it is
because he refuses to go to listen to the Doctor. (Sounds like someone
else we know) Jared is the true representation of Team Lloyd Irvin
loves to compete and put it on the line. So here we go.

Jared’s
first match is against Joao
Silva
who’s a black belt under Aloisio Silva. OH one more thing no
one showed
up for Jared’s weight division so if he wanted to fight he
had to move
up two weight divisions, which he did. Now back to the fight. Jared
pulled guard and the fight began. Joao trying to pass and Jared trying
to submit or sweep. This went on for some time. In a transition out of
no where Jared went for an omo plata, then went inverted and change it
to the omo plata sweep coming on top getting the two points for the
sweep. Jared is working hard for the pass coming close a few times but
no control. The fight gets back to the feet where the time runs out.
Jared WINS!!!

In
the Finals Jared pulls
guard. With his
opponent trying to pass Jared opens his legs to work his position, in a
transition his opponent swung around and went for a knee bar on Jared
getting the finish.

Jared
Weiner
“2003 American National Black Belt Silver Medalist”

Team
Lloyd Irvin Can’t begin to tell you how proud we our of
these guys. When it seems that less and less people are putting it on
the line our guys are still going out there giving it their all WIN,
LOSE or DRAW and that’s what it is about for those that want
to compete.

Mike
Fowler and Jared Weiner just received their belts within
the last few months and Brad Court just received his brown belt weeks
ago. Way to go guys. Keep up the good work.

pictures coming soon

November
23rd , 2003:

Wander
Braga Seminar

On Sunday Team
Lloyd Irvin had the
honor of hosting a seminar with on of
our Family members Wander Braga. You see Wander Braga and Master
Lloyd's instructor Leo Dalla both received their BJJ Black Belts from
Jorge Pereira. So we are in direct lineage with Wander. Once again
Wander showed some very good positions that students will be able to put
into their game immediately. If you missed this seminar you missed a
good one. WATCH OUT IN CLASS.

INSTRUCTOR
- Professor Wander Braga is considered to be among the top
ten rated Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighters in the world. Professor Braga's
accolades include being five-time Vale-Tudo (NHB) winner, two-time Pan
American champion, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu world champion. Wander Braga
is considered one of the best Vale-Tudo (NHB) fighters in the world. He
is trained by Jorge Pereira.

Here's
a picture of the seminar attendees. Pay close attention, there
were 7 Black Belts in attendance.

November
22nd , 2003:

Team Lloyd Irvin brings home two SILVER medals from Judo Event

Phil
Proctor brought home the
SILVER medal in this weekend's
Judo competition.

James
Valentine brings home
the SILVER medal in this weekend's
Judo competition.

Way to go guys. Keep up the GREAT work.

November
17th , 2003:

Team
Lloyd Irvin welcomes aboard
Evolve Academy of Martial Arts

We are very proud
to announce the Evolve
Academy of
Martial Arts will now be
representing Team Lloyd Irvin. We look
forward to great things. You can get more information about Mike
Moses's Evolve Academy in the school
section.

Seph Smith Fought
in the King of
The Ring VII Vale tudo event Defeating
Brian Lyttle With a triangle Choke about 2 minutes into the first round.

CONGRATS Seph way
to go.

November
15th , 2003:

Mike
Fowler Wins The Grapplers Quest West November 15, 2003

Fresh off his
NAGC Expert division
No Gi Championship last week Mike Fowler traveled back to the West
Coast to test his No Gi skills at the Grapplers Quest West
Championships. Flying into Las Vegas Friday night Mike competed
Saturday against the West Coast best fighters. Mike had three matches
against some very tough fighters.

First up was a
tough Brazilian.
The match was very fast paced when all of a sudden the Brazilian did a
very nice move to escape a pass when Mike caught him in the Brabo
choke. We all though the match was over but the Brazilian wouldn't tap
out. Mike was forced to release the hold. Less than a minute later Mike
has him in another brabo choke but can't finish it. With about a minute
left there is a fast scramble with Mike pulling out an INCREDIBLE move
like a Magician and somehow took the Brazilians back securing the win.

Mike catching The Rock in a Trianglee

In the second
match Mike faced the
one and only "ROCK" Mr.. David Jacobs from the Yamasaki Academy. In a
much anticipated match Mike pulled guard and immediately starting
working his guard, David was well versed in defending Mikes submission
attempts until out of no where Mike pulls out a triangle. David lifts
Mike into the air where Mike works to tighten the grip forcing David to
put him back on the ground. Once on the ground Mike tightened up the
triangle and David was forced to tap.

Mike's
hand raised in the Semi finals

In the Finals
Mike was facing an
opponent who blazed through the other side of the bracket with a WICKED
guard. Mikes plan was to pull guard first but wasn't able to, he landed
in his opponents very difficult rubber guard after hitting a perfect
takedown. Instead of playing a low pass game Mike played a standing
pass game and performed a beautiful knee cut across pass landing in the
cross side.

Mike
secures the guard pass in the finals

One in the cross
side Mike moved
to the North South position where he performed one of Master Lloyds new
secret sneaky chokes. This was the first time in competition anyone
from our team used this new move but now that it has been used
effectively I'm sure everyone at the school will want to learn it now.
Mike held the choke solid with his opponents face turning purple, he
had to tap giving Mike the GOLD!!!

Mike
gets his hand raised and is declared the Champion in the
Finals

After the match
quite a few people
came up to us asking to see how the choke works. For now it's a SECRET.

GREAT job MIKE FOWLER. Keep up the good work.

Click here to hear what Mike had to say right after his match in the
finals.

NORTH
AMERICAN GRAPPLING
CHAPIONSHIPS
November 8,9, 2003

Team Lloyd Irvin wins TWO Championship Belts and
2 Gold Medals

This past weekend
Team Lloyd Irvin
entered 2 adult competitors into the newly created EXPERT division at
this years Nage Championship, dubbed "The Largest Grappling Tournament
in the World"

First was James
Valentine who
battled his way into the finals showing beatiful technique. In the
finals he faced a very strong wrestler that had amazing balance. At the
end of the match James was succesful at sweeping his opponent and
maintaining the mount position.

At the end James
had his hand
raised in victory. Giving him the win and the HUGE Championship belt!!

Our second
competitor was Mike
Fowler who also had some very tough matches working his way into the
finals. Once again Mike prevailed in the finals winning a very
difficult match on points. With his hand raised in victory this young
kid could do nothing but smile. This victory secured another
Championship belt for Team Lloyd Irvin.

Mike
Fowler

Now where did the
two medals come
from?

Jose " The Pistol" Villirisco is the name. Jose less than a week after
receiveing his BJJ Blue Belt went to the NAGA Championships competing
in the No gi and his first ever Blue Belt division.

In the No Gi
once again Mr. Jose
was out weighed by everyone by at least 20 pounds. Just in case you
don't know already Jose is only 118 pounds and can NEVER find an event
that has his weight class so he always has to fight in the 139 pound
division. Regardless Jose entered the No Gi division going for
submission after submission, in one of the most bizaar scenes ever
witnessed in submission grappling Jose and his opponent went for a
flying armbar at the exact same time bumping heads and landing on the
ground, everyone thought they were out but the kept fighting. After a
few grueling matches Jose was in the finals where he fought the man
that can do magic to videos, Belder from Belder Productions. This was a
GREAT match as Belder showed his experience sweeping Jose with little
time left, it looked as if the match was going to end until Jose
started working Team Lloyd Irvin's signature triangle attack and before
you know it he landed it for the submission.

Jose
Brings home the GOLD in the
No Gi..

Jose
Brings home the GOLD

Next Jose fights
in his very first
Blue Belt Gi division. When he got to the event he found out that 2 of
the competitors had beat him last year as a white belt and they beat
him pretty good. All week he wanted to know how everyone thought he
would do as a blue belt and he quickly found out having 2 major epic
battles with his opponent from Alliance where he was going for sweeps,
brabo chokes and more. His first match as a Blue belt he wins 7*2. In
the Finals he faced a tough Renzo Gracie blue belt, this match was VERY
close and in the end Jose won 4*2 giving him the GOLD medal and the
title 139 pound 2003 NAGA Blue Belt Champion.

Phil Proctor was winning his
final match 21 *
0 before he submitted his opponent.

Mike Fowler submits everyone
in his weight
division and in the Open division.

Mr.
Jose put on a
pure BJJ clinic fighting in a weight division 20 pounds heavier than
his own.

Brandon Vera wins his
division and splits open
title with Mike Fowler.

Brad Court showed why
he’s the man to beat.
Having been plagued by injuries all year Brad jumped into the purple
belt mix and dominated in all of his matches finishing his opponent in
the finals with a wicked armbar.

Mr.
Mike and Brandon Vera
after winning
the Absolute class. They closed out
the brackets.

James
Valentine
entered the open division submitting his first opponent with a collar
choke and stepped to the side to allow team mate Mike Fowler to
continue.Paul Greenhill
perfectly executed everything
he’s been working in class in his match.

Phil
Proctor -
1st in the absolute after losing first round of his division...CONGRATS
PHIL!!!!!! GOLD Medal

Brian O'Conner - lost tough
first match

Albie
- 1st by
submission GOLD Medal

TC -
2nd place
one submission

Master
Paul Greenhill
- lost a tough first round match, but look out for him at the future
tournaments, he was fighting with the younger guys in this one, when he
didn't have to, and in my opinion, he's going to take those divisions
soon.

James
Valentine -
won his first match and lost the second on points.

Jared
Weiner -
rough day this was, he was defending a take down and knee popped loud
as can be. he will be back in no time, he's had injuries worse than
this one, i cant see anything short of a train wreck stopping Jared
from doing jiu-jitsu.

I think I covered
everyone and
forgive the spelling because I am rushing. I apologize if I didn't put
you in here, so e-mail me
if I
forgot you.

Next stop the
COPA November 1,
2003.

It's rumored that
our BIG GUN Brad
Court will be representing at the COPA. .

In Ohio's
Reatlity Combat Bradon
Vera had a NHB match and it was his first time fighting in a steel
cage. His weight division was 220lb but his opponent didn't show up and
he ended up fighting 250 lb Purple Belt Don Richards from Team Caique.

Brando started
the fight off with
a BIG body suplay but he threw his opponent into the fence and he
bounced back on top landing in the mount. Brandon escaped the mount
position working his way off of the fence back to the feet. They traded
some more shot then Brandon took the fight to the ground.

Brandon maintained good positioning where he landed great shots. The
fight went like this both rounds with Brandon winning a unanimous
victory.

This was a really well ran event that looked like a smaller pride show
because of the set up. Celebrities like Mark "The Hammer" Coleman was
in the house.

CONGRATS
BRANDON

Look for BIG things from Brandon in the near Future.

Group picture after Brandon won his Vale Tudo fightteam Lloyd
Irvin Jose, Ken and Buck

Sept
20th , 2003:

Mike
Easton Wins his very
first Muay Thai Competition.

damage
inflicted

Mike in his corner looking over to see if they're going to let the
fight continue.

Fortunately the
doctor stopped the
fight. MIKE
EASTON WINS.

Sept
13th , 2003:

Mike
Fowler wins GQ World
Championships- 4 fights 4 submissions

Grappling Quest
World
Championships
September 13, 2003

Mike Fowler who
is just about to
hit the 2 year training mark. Mike Fowler could very well fight in the
intermediate divisions because of his time in but he doesn't

Mike Fowler won the men's adv. 159 lb division of the Grappler's Quest
World
Championships this weekend. Mike won all four of his matches by
submission.

Brabo choke,
rear naked choke and
two triangles. In the finals he fought a very experienced and talented
BJJ Brown Belt namedKeith Florian from Boston Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu,
finishing him
in under a minute.

We can't begin to explain how big of a deal this is for Mike because
Keith is REALLY good, he has placed in the Pan Ams as a Purple Belt and
a Brown belt. He has been training Jiu-Jitsu as long as Master Lloyd
has. Mike has been on cloud nine ever since. When you see him I bet
he'll still have that BIG smile on his face.

Sept
12th , 2003:

Master
Lloyd promotes his
very first Black Belt in BJJ.

Jared
Weiner
becomes the very first student to receive a Black Belt in BJJ under
Master Lloyd Irvin. Jared received this great honor on September 6,
2003 in front of all of his Team Members from around the East Coast and
5 other Black Belts. We're sure he'll continue to represent like he's
always done CONGRATS JARED!

Jared highlighted
and finished his
Brown Belt days becoming the American National Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Champion winning the first ever American National BJJ tournament in
California.

Just
weeks ago Jared fought in a Brown belt superfight against a
Brazilian Top Team student under Jorge Gurgel winning 9*0.

Once again congrats Jared. This is a HUGE accomplishment.

Click
here to hear what Jared had to say about receiving the Black Belt:

After a complete
domination of the
Blue Belt ranks Master Lloyd Promoted Mike
Fowler to
the rank of Purple belt while in Brazil. Purple belts BEWARE!!! This
man is on a mission. Make sure you say congrats to Mike when he returns
from Brazil. Oh I forgot the day he gets home he's going to compete in
his first event at a purple belt.

July
2nd , 2003:

Lloyd
Irvin's Martial Arts accomplishes a remarkable feat
only done by 2
schools in the WORLD ever!
LIMAA sent
members of it's competition to the Worlds most grueling Brazilian
Jiu-Jitsu Competition in Rio, the Mundials.
After the World
Championships had concluded students Rhadi Ferguson emerged with the Silver medal in his perspective belt division.

Rhadi
Ferguson

Team
Lloyd Irvin and
American Top Team Tie for first place to decide who is the best team on
the East Coast.

1st Place (TIE):

Team
Lloyd Irvin and American Top Team

3rd Place:

Freestyle
Fighting Academy

4th Place:

Team
Renzo Gracie

The
following match by match results were posted by Puma of
ATT, I think he explained everything completely, thank you Puma!:

First Round:

Ives
vs. Weiner- Ives wins 4-2

Parrumpinha
vs. Cardosa- Parrumpinha wins 8-0

Margolis
vs. Williams- Margolis wins 6-0

Popovitch
vs. Avellan- Popovitch wins 4-2

D'arce
vs. Dalla- Dalla wins 0-0

JD
Boca vs. Ruiz- Boca wins 0-0

JD
Irvin vs. Mordente- Irvin knocks himself out going for a
flying triangle.

Bitetti
vs. Avellan- Avellan wins 6-4

Ferguson
vs. Alvarez- Furguson wins 0-0 JD

Monson
vs. Hernandez- Monson wins 4-0

Total
For First Round: ATT wins 4-1 over FFA

Irvin
wins 3-2 over Renzo's

Second
Round

Ives
vs. Cardosa- Cardosa wins 0-0 JD

Parrumpinha
vs. Weiner- Parrumpinha wins JD

Avellan
vs. Williams- Avellan wins 2-0

Margolis
vs. Popovitch- Margolis wins by triangle

Ruiz
vs. D'arce- D'arce wins 2-1

Boca
vs. Dalla- Dalla wins 2-2 JD

Avellan
vs. Mordente- Avellan wins 6-0 (Not 100% on point
total).

Monson
vs. Ferguson- Monson wins 2-0

Alvarez
vs. Hernandez- Alvarez by keylock

FFA
takes third place beating Renzo's 3-2.

After
4 matches ATT and Lloyd Irvin are tied 2-2. The Irvin
Amaury match was skipped due to Lloyds injury. Because the prize money
was substantial ($5000 for 1st and $2500 for 2nd) Lloyd asked to fight.
The doctor refused his request.

After
discussing the situation, ATT fighters and coaches
refused a victory by forfeit and offered to split the first place and
the prize money. We have nothing but respect for a guy who is in his
first competition since breaking his neck last year and still wants to
fight despite being unconscious an hour earlier. We do not want Lloyd's
warrior spirit to get in the way of common sense and lead to injury.
Irvin's team accepted ATT's offer and in a show of gratitude, Lloyd
handed the first place trophy to Liborio and ATT at the award ceremony.

One
other note. Just want to mention the sportmanship
displayed by Jared Weiner of Irvin's team. His match with Parrumpinha
ended 0-0. Parrumpinha controlled the match and hit a takedown that the
referee later admitted he missed and wasn't awarded points for the
mount position b/c the ref did not believe he held position long
enough. No criticsm of the reffing it is a thankless job and its
impossible to get it perfect. Anyway, there was a long discussion
amongst the 3 sets of judges b/c one claimed he didn't want to decide
against Weiner out of freindship even though if pressed for a decision,
he would give it to Parrumpinha. When Weiner saw what was happening he
immediately told Kipp Kollar that he clearly lost the fight and took it
out of the judges hands. You do not see that type of honor in any sport
very often and we were happy to return the favor when the issue later
arose concerning Lloyd's condition. Congrats to everyone who competed.
It was a great event.

Master
Lloyd is awarded "The 2002 United States Judo Federation International Coach of the Year"
award!

Master
Rhadi is awarded "The 2002 United States Judo Federation International Player of the Year"
award!

Play by Play: Jeff Ruth vs. Gary RussellBoth men
working good stand up. A strong punch by
Ruth and a take down. Ruth into side mount working punches to the head.
Good defense by Russell as he works Ruth to half guard. Ruth working
hard to pass half guard, but Russell defends well. Ruth works over to
side mount again, landing decent punches to the head. Back into half
guard. Ref restarts the fighters
standing up. Russell going in for some strong strikes. Ruth with a knee
to the face from the clinch. Both fighters swinging hard. Fighting from
the clinch ends up in the ground, Russell holding half guard. Ruth
working a strong arm lock from side mount that Russell fights out of.
Ref calls for a cut check on Ruth. The match continues. Ruth comes out
swinging . Russell
defending well and pushes Ruth to the ground ending up in Ruth's guard.
Ruth working for a strong triangle. Ruth pulling on the head. Russell
taps out. (Ruth by
Triangle Choke at 5:35)

RHADI FERGUSON BECOMES TEAM LLOYD IRVIN'S VERY FIRST "OLYMPIAN" ON JUNE
5, 2004 HE WILL REPRESENT THE U.S. IN ATHENS GREECE.

Team Lloyd Irvin makes history becoming the first and only team to ever
defeat the legendary Team Renzo Gracie in competition.
Official Results from the 2003 Copa Atlantica Brazilian Jiu Jitsu
Championships

Lloyd Irvin's Martial Arts accomplishes a remarkable feat only done by
2 schools in the WORLD ever! LIMAA sent members of it's competition to
the World’s most grueling Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Competition in
Rio, the
Mundials. After the World Championships had concluded students Rhadi Ferguson emerged with the Silver medal in his perspective belt division.

Master
Lloyd won The 2002 United States Judo
Federation International Coach of the Year"
award!

Master
Rhadi won The 2002 United States Judo
Federation International Player of the Year"
award!